Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios•www.wnycstudios.org

Covering the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday is the source for entertaining and educational stories about science, technology, and other cool stuff.

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Episodes

To This Neuroscientist, Cows Are Like Puppies

If you’ve ever seen a cute cow video on social media, you might notice they seem to have a lot in common with dogs. They can wag their tails, they love to gobble down tasty treats, and if you’re lucky, they might flop over for a nice belly or neck scratch. Cows are clearly emotional animals, but how smart are they exactly? That’s the question that neuroscientist and author Dr. Gregory Berns had when he and his wife moved from Atlanta to the Georgia countryside in 2020, and started raising cows o...

Sep 11, 2024•18 min•Ep. 857

Fishing For—And Saving—Sharks | Scientists Identify ‘ManhattAnt’ Spreading Across NYC

Shark fishing is alive and well, but the fishermen who do it are increasingly prioritizing conservation. And, an unknown ant was spotted in Manhattan in 2011, and it quickly spread through New York City. We now know what it is. Fishing For—And Saving—Sharks off the Jersey Shore At an undisclosed beach at 5:30 p.m. in New Jersey, shark fisherman AJ Rotondella and two clients wait for beachgoers to leave. Once the beach is empty, Rotondella cuts up some chunks of fish as bait , and casts lines int...

Sep 10, 2024•18 min•Ep. 856

Using DNA To Boost Digital Data Storage And Processing

You might be familiar with a gigabyte, one of the most popular units of measure for computer storage. A two-hour movie is 3 gigabytes on average, while your phone can probably store 256 gigabytes. But did you know that your body also stores information in its own way? We see this in DNA, which has the instructions needed for an organism to develop, survive, and reproduce. In computing storage terms, each cell of our body contains about 1.5 gigabytes worth of data . And with about 30 trillion cel...

Sep 09, 2024•18 min•Ep. 855

An Asteroid Impact, Spotted In Advance | Extreme Heat Is Making Learning More Difficult

ESA officials said it was only the ninth time an asteroid was spotted before reaching Earth’s atmosphere. And, as the climate changes and summer temperatures linger, educators are increasingly worried about keeping kids safe from heat exhaustion. An Asteroid Impact, Spotted In Advance On Wednesday, an asteroid named 2024 RW1 burned up in the atmosphere above the Philippines. As asteroids go, it was not especially notable. Astronomers say objects the size of 2024 RW1, which was about a meter in d...

Sep 06, 2024•25 min•Ep. 854

Dino-Killing Asteroid Was Rich In Carbon | The Dogs Sniffing Out Spotted Lanternflies

A new study suggests that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs may have originated from the outer parts of the solar system. And, invasive spotted lanternflies often lay eggs on vehicles and shipped goods. Now researchers are training dogs to sniff them out before they hatch. Asteroid That Killed The Dinosaurs Was A Carbon-Rich Rock Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the Earth, blasted debris everywhere, plummeted the planet into cold darkness, and ended the age of dinosaurs...

Sep 05, 2024•20 min•Ep. 853

Why Eels Are So Mysterious—And In Demand

Eels have fascinated humans for thousands of years, even captivating big thinkers like Aristotle and Freud. Despite having been around for some 200 million years , eels are still rather mysterious creatures. For example, scientists still aren’t sure exactly how they spawn. But those unanswered questions haven’t stopped humans from wanting to eat them. So much so that they’re now endangered in some areas—and a lucrative criminal enterprise has risen up to poach baby eels from the wild. Guest host...

Sep 04, 2024•18 min•Ep. 852

Webb Telescope Data Point To Six ‘Rogue Worlds’

Did you know that almost every star you see in the night sky has at least one planet orbiting it? Here’s something even wilder: There are some celestial bodies that look a lot like planets, but just float around freely in the cosmos, unattached to any particular star. They’re called rogue worlds . With data from the James Webb Space Telescope, astrophysicists just identified six right here in our own Milky Way galaxy. So what can we learn from these rogue worlds? Can they teach us anything about...

Sep 03, 2024•18 min•Ep. 851

Could ‘Season Creep’ Affect Human Behavior?

You might have noticed that the seasons don’t quite behave like they used to. In some places, fall and spring seem to fly by, while winter and summer are much longer and feel more intense. This shift is known as season creep, where the timing of the seasons starts to shift . This phenomenon is mostly due to climate change creating temperature imbalances and throwing weather patterns off kilter year-round. And it can cause problems for plants and animals as their natural cycles fall out of sync. ...

Sep 02, 2024•18 min•Ep. 850

Mosquito-Borne Diseases Are Spreading | ‘Slingshot’ And A Space Mission Gone Wrong

Several states have reported cases of the rare but serious mosquito-borne illness eastern equine encephalitis. And, the new sci-fi movie "Slingshot," about an astronaut’s mental breakdown, prompts questions about how to prepare humans for long-term space travel. Mosquito-Borne Diseases Are Spreading As Temperatures Rise This week, a New Hampshire man died of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a rare but extremely serious disease caused by a mosquito-borne virus. Human cases of EEE have also been...

Aug 30, 2024•24 min•Ep. 849

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